Starfall And Beyond
by Denigoddess2001
Summary: In a universe gone mad, Beth Maza and Goliath witness the End of an Age.
1. Default Chapter

DISCLAIMER: DON'T OWN GARGOYLES. THEY BELONG TO DISNEY. NO PROFIT MADE FROM THIS. I WROTE THIS JUST FOR FUN. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I HAVE EMPTY POCKETS.   
In a universe gone mad, the world of Earth is seeing it's final days. Devastated by an mage war with the Kiari (THE ANCIENT ANCESTORS OF THE FAE.) Earth is orbiting a dying star. Disaster, disease and famine have wiped over 95% of the population from the planet. A few of the people we know survive; Goliath, Beth, Demona and Arthur. These once-sworn enemies have banded together to find a way for our world to survive. They are in the final age; they are in Starfall.  
  
Starfall  
By Denigoddess2001  
  
  
Beth Maza stared out at the scarlet skies thick with billowing clouds of poisonous gasses covering the horizon. The caves of the Wyoming Rockies were inadequate shelter compared to the luxuries of Xanatos' castle. She had cried the day the oceans claimed her homeland. The waves had washed over New York as her tears fell like black opals down her cheek.   
  
[When does it end?] She cried mentally to the crimson sky. How Goliath had fought valiantly against the Kiari with their magick and their minions. She saw friends and comrades fall like toy soldiers as the Kiari tortured them for their amusement on the battlefield.   
  
After the battle, she held the torn body of husband, MacBeth, in her arms. She knew that he would want her to be strong. She attempted to be brave so that he could die with honor; die a hero's death.  
  
"Lass', we have been through worse than this." He rasped.  
  
"I know." She had murmured stroking his thick mane of silver hair. At the end of an age, Beth Maza had learned to love this enigmatic man. She did what she had not done in years; she wept bittersweet tears as the soul of her husband died. She knew in her heart that he had died happy in the arms of the woman he loved more than all life. He had not died alone.  
  
Now she stood on this wretched mountain waiting to die as the rest of the wretched, pathetic masses called humanity. Most had been lucky. The Kiari had killed them in the earliest attacks. Those not so fortunate had survived the attacks and had been taken as slaves to far away worlds or used for food. Those worst off had been left to eke out a subsistent existence on a dying, war-ravaged world. Famine, radiation, natural disasters had rid the world of 85% of its landmass.  
  
"Beth, come inside." Goliath called to her. "We have to seal the entrance. The radiation will affect us all."  
  
Without another word, she took one final look at the world she had once called home.   
  
She had only the clothing she wore, her wedding ring, and a locket with pictures of her and MacBeth to remind her of her old life. Now, she would be locked away from that world forever until she died.  
  
Goliath and the others huddled around the fire pit. He used his great strength to crash the rocks together to create sparks. Beth shivered as Goliath wrapped his wings about her to keep her warm. The crackling of the fire did little to remove the seeping fatalism from her bones. She watched mutely as Dingo handed out the minuscule amounts of rations to each. Puck dipped all of them a half of cup of water in small, hollow geodes.  
  
[This is the fate Humanity, Gargoyles, and Fae.] Beth mused angrily. [We spend the final days of our existence living like cavemen. What a waste!!!]  
  
It was the plan of the last ones to travel deep into the Earth to find fresh water and a source of heat. She knew it was a fallacy. What little water remained was contaminated by toxins and radiation. The rations were dangerously low. Injuries acquired had to heal on their own without the benefit of medical attention. She remembered how her brother Talon recently died of Gangrene because there were no antibiotics left to treat him.  
  
Goliath and she had buried his body beneath some rocks and had said some final prayers. Silently, she had murmured prayers for them all.  
  
Odd pairings took place in these end times. Talon and Maggie had always been together. Demona and Arthur snuggled close to one another for warmth. Wolf eyed Beth lustfully as she inwardly cringed. She knew that he wanted more that just a friendly relationship. Goliath pined away for his beloved Elisa in his semi-lucid dementia. She knew it wouldn't be long until his soul left this world.  
  
"Penny for your thoughts?" Came a gentle voice to her left.  
  
"Nothing Demona, just reminiscing." She answered warmly to her best friend. In such harsh times, enemies because close allies. She usually stayed close to Demona and Arthur for her protection. Wolf's recent assault had almost been successful had it not been for Arthur's timely intervention.  
  
"You seem so far from us this evening."  
  
"I have no where to go." She said in a hollow voice.  
  
"Beth, things will get better." Demona's soothing words did little to comfort her. "Just have faith."  
  
"Perhaps, your right." She gave the ravishing redhead a thin smile. [Leave it up to Demona to always have hope. Who would have thought it possible?]  
  
Beth realized that the thin veil of life was no longer for her. Her time there was done. She waited until the others fell asleep. She placed her wedding ring in Arthur's hand and put her locket around his neck while he slept.   
  
She walked to the edge of the cave and made her way past the sealed entrance onto the narrow ledge. The frigid air of the oncoming nuclear winter chilled Beth to the depths of her soul. She picked up one of the rock shards that had sealed the entrance. It found it's home inside her breaking heart.  
  
If anyone remained outside that night, they would have seen a magnificent sight. In all of its dark majesty, a dark silhouette of a Gargoyle flew across the starless night sky. Within it's wings the stars shone for the first time in months. The hope and life of other galaxies gleamed in her soft velvet folds. As it left this world behind, the clouds opened and the moon's light shown through briefly, but so sweetly. The enigmatic entity left behind its home for all time and returned to the wild, untamed reaches of the distant stars.  
  
And with that last sight, did Beth's tears stream like comets in a Starfall.  
  
  
  
  



	2. Beyond Starfall

  
Beyond Starfall  
By Denigoddess2001  
  
Rated G  
DISCLAIMER: NOT WRITTEN FOR PROFIT. I DON'T OWN THE GARGOYLES. THEY BELONG TO DISNEY.  
  
One of the clan broke past the sealed entrance of the cave that night. Against his own orders, Goliath sneaked outside to face the frigid chill of the oncoming nuclear winter. His heart felt so like the chilling breeze that blew along the mountainside. It was almost as cold as his heart.  
  
Goliath Maza's heart once brimmed with warmth, passion, and love. He and his beloved mate, Elisa, had led a blissful existence together as lifemates. They had fought alongside their clan kin until the last remaining Gargoyles had suffered capture or death.  
  
The Kiari in the battle of Manhattan had captured Elisa. She had been the first to be lost. It had broken his will and he knew he could no longer lead his clan. With each passing night, he and his ragtag assembly battled against the dark spirits that ransacked their home world. Xanatos and MacBeth had been captured by them also and taken to the mothership never to be seen again.  
  
In the months that followed, Angela and Broadway had been victims of Kiari opponents. As each member of the clan died, Goliath's heart froze a little more. His sanity faded farther away with every death. Those who had remained after the flood did the only thing they could to escape death, capture, and disaster; they fled.  
  
Tonight had been especially bad for the clan. Morale was not good. How long could they go on with little food and poison water? Fox had been so strong urging them into the mountains to seek shelter. She had held the Kiari at bay while Jackyl and Hyena had led the others to escape.  
  
Goliath bowed his head in shame as he remembered had he had stood there frigid unable to react. Fright had paralyzed the fearless leader. Now, Puck called him the Fearful Failure.  
  
He had caught the a whiff of perfume that he knew well.. Beth Maza had disobeyed orders and had gone outside the cave. Goliath felt the urge to follow. He saw her take the crude blade into both hands and plunge it into her heart. She crumpled into a heap on the ledge as blood pooled and froze around her. Goliath braved the perils of the narrow shelf and edged out near Beth's body.  
  
What caught his eyes was rapture to his tortured, bemused soul. It was a glorious sight. In all of her dark majesty, the Specter sporting Elisa's lovely features left behind her mortal bonds and embraced the black desolate void of the midnight sky. Within her wingspan were the songs of a million stars mourning the loss of one of their brethren. Her wings reflected the last gleams of hope and life for one insignificant, dying world. Those same loving wings embraced the spirit of Beth Maza. The two flew skywards until they were lost in a sea of ten thousand stars.  
  
For the first time in a very long time, the light of the moon broke through the clouds and shone on Goliath Maza of the Wyvern Clan; illuminating his dying heart and fading soul.  
  
"Take me with you." He begged to the leaving entity. "Please, take me with you."  
  
It melted into the black starless night without an answer. Perhaps she had not heard his whispered words or his barely audible plea. He turned to return to the cave. He bent his head and cradled his face in his hands. One tear cascaded rapidly after the next in an endless sparkling stream of rage, shame, madness, and pain. Like the descending comets plummeting to earth in the night sky, his tears fell like a starfall.  
  
"Goliath." He heard the lilting, melodious alto inside his mind. Was he dreaming? Could it be true? Had Elisa returned?   
  
"Hey, Big Guy! It's time to go."   
  
He felt the gentle coolness of eternal slumber tug at his soul as she freed him from his evanescent shell. His free spirit felt so vibrant and free for the first time. No more insanity or guilt or shame tortured him every living moment. As he soared toward the stars, the points of light formed into a galaxy unlike any other. At the end of the galaxy, he saw two beings near and dear to his heart. His daughter whispered his name like a prayer. His wife welcomed him into waiting arms.  
  
He had made it beyond Starfall.  



End file.
